Search

In STEM higher education, lecturers need to assist learners in constructing understanding of complex scientific concepts by employing relevant teaching methods, tools, and technologies. A continuous professional development (CPD) of academic teaching staff in teaching and learning is indispensable to keep up with the development of STEM. Using a cascade-like approach in continuous professional development in teaching and learning, where lecturers are involved bottom-up as CPD-Ambassadors, makes it possible to address relevant STEM-specific teaching and learning issues and continuously improve teaching practice. At three international STEM-CPD Summer Schools for CPD-Ambassadors, the CPD-Ambassadors developed fifty CPD-User cases about organising professional development in teaching and learning at their own higher education institutions and promoting the importance of CPD in their local context. The analysis of the CPD-User cases shows that the most frequently addressed teaching competencies and attitudes foster student-centred teaching approaches based on constructivist educational views. A relationship is found with previously defined generally important teaching competences and attitudes for higher STEM education. The results indicate that a cascade-like, discipline oriented continuous professional development approach through CPD-Ambassadors is a promising approach in improving university teaching practice.

Abstract Background Treatment of acute myocardial infarction with stem cell transplantation has achieved beneficial effects in many clinical trials. The bone marrow microenvironment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients has never been studied even though myocardial infarction is known to cause an imbalance in the acid-base status of these patients. The aim of this study was to assess if the blood gas levels in the bone marrow of STEMI patients affect the characteristics of the bone marrow cells (BMCs) and, furthermore, do they influence the change in cardiac function after autologous BMC transplantation. The arterial, venous and bone marrow blood gas concentrations were also compared. Methods Blood gas analysis of the bone marrow aspirate and peripheral blood was performed for 27 STEMI patients receiving autologous stem cell therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention. Cells from the bone marrow aspirate were further cultured and the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) proliferation rate was determined by MTT assay and the MSC osteogenic differentiation capacity by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assay. All the patients underwent a 2D-echocardiography at baseline and 4 months after STEMI. Results As expected, the levels of pO2, pCO2, base excess and HCO3 were similar in venous blood and bone marrow. Surprisingly, bone marrow showed significantly lower pH and Na+ and elevated K+ levels compared to arterial and venous blood. There was a positive correlation between the bone marrow pCO2 and HCO3 levels and MSC osteogenic differentiation capacity. In contrast, bone marrow pCO2 and HCO3 levels displayed a negative correlation with the proliferation rate of MSCs. Patients with the HCO3 level below the median value exhibited a more marked change in LVEF after BMC treatment than patients with HCO3 level above the median (11.13 ± 8.07% vs. 2.67 ± 11.89%, P = 0.014). Conclusions Low bone marrow pCO2 and HCO3 levels may represent the optimal environment for BMCs in terms of their efficacy in autologous stem cell therapy in STEMI patients.

Mutations in the small, calcium-sensing, protein calmodulin cause cardiac arrhythmia and can ultimately prove lethal. Here, we report the impact of the G113R variant on the structure and dynamics of the calmodulin molecule, both in the presence and in the absence of calcium. We show that the mutation introduces minor changes into the structure of calmodulin and that it changes the thermostability and thus the degree of foldedness at human body temperature. The mutation also severely impacts the intramolecular mobility of calmodulin, especially in the apo form. Glycine 113 acts as an alpha-helical C-capping residue in both apo/ - and Ca 2+ /calmodulin, but its exchange to arginine has very different effects on the apo and Ca 2+ forms. The majority of arrhythmogenic calmodulin variants identified affects residues in the Ca 2+ coordinating loops of the two C-domain EF-Hands, causing a 'direct impact on Ca 2+ binding'. However, G113R lies outside a Ca 2+ coordinating loop and acts differently and more similar to the previously characterized arrhythmogenic N53I. Therefore, we suggest that altered apo/CaM dynamics may be a novel general disease mechanism, defining low-calcium target affinity - or Ca 2+ binding kinetics - critical for timely coordination of essential ion-channels in the excitation-contraction cycle., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest MTO acted as expert witness for the defense in the 2022/2023 Inquiry into the convictions of Kathlen Megan Folbigg (https://2022folbigginquiry.dcj.nsw.gov.au/). CVH, NMP and HI are employees of private companies., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)